Joseph Edgar Foreman (born July 28, 1974), better known by his stage name Afroman, is an American rapper, multi-instrumentalist and musician. He is best known for the hit single "
Because I Got High". He was nominated for a
Grammy award in 2002.

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Music career

Foreman's musical career began in the eighth grade, when he began recording homemade songs and selling them to his classmates.[1] "The first tape I made was about my eighth-grade teacher," he once recalled. "She got me kicked out of school for
sagging my pants, which was a big deal back then. So I wrote this song about her and it sold about 400 copies: it was selling to teachers, students, just about everybody. And I realized that, even though I wasn't at school, my song was at school, so in a way I was still there. All these people would come by my house just to give me comments about how cool they thought the song was."[2] Foreman also performed in his church at a young age, playing both the drums and guitar.[1]

In 1998, Afroman released his first album, My Fro-losophy and later relocated to
Hattiesburg, Mississippi,[1] where he met drummer Jody Stallone, keyboardist/bassist Darrell Havard and producer Tim Ramenofsky (AKA Headfridge).

After the single's success, Afroman joined the lineup of
Cypress Hill's fall festival "Smoke Out" with the
Deftones,
Method Man, and others.[4] After this,
Universal Records signed Afroman to a six-album deal, and Universal released The Good Times in 2001. The Good Times was a compilation of Afroman's first two albums and some new tracks.[1]

Afroman started releasing his music independently and mostly through the Internet in 2004,[1] and that year, he recorded Jobe Bells, which
satirized traditional
Christmas songs.[5]

In October 2014, Afroman released a remix of his song "Because I Got High," to highlight the usefulness of marijuana as part of the fight to legalize its sale across the United States.

Arrest

On February 17, 2015, Afroman was midway through his performance at a live music venue in
Biloxi, Mississippi when a woman walked on stage. It is unknown whether she was invited up. She approached Foreman from behind, drink in hand, while dancing. When she touched Foreman he spun around and knocked her down with a blow to the head. He was subsequently escorted offstage by security and was arrested and taken into custody, and charged with
assault. He was released on bond shortly thereafter.

There were reportedly 12 to 15 security guards on duty to manage a crowd in excess of 500 people. When interviewed, Foreman's representative claimed that the act was an involuntary reflex caused by the woman invading his space. He also stated that Afroman mistook the woman for another audience member who had been consistently heckling Foreman. Foreman has since publicly apologized and is seeking assistance with anger management.[7][8]